I was recently involved in a group project with @_iGeekGirl_ , @Lynn_Pyke and @ladylibrifrom for LIBR559M. In the end, I thought our group was a great example of successful collaboration. Everyone took on a task and completed it by the deadline. There was also a lot of positive communication. My Gmail ‘conversations’ show that 7o emails were sent between the four of us just regarding that project. If someone needed some help, whoever else was online at the time seemed able to cheerfully ‘pick up the slack’. This positive experience has led me to wonder, what was it about our group that made me feel like it worked so well? After some deliberation I have concluded that the main ingredient was trust.
There are instances when collaboration is not really the most efficient way to get something done. In a column from 2010 David Freedman of Inc. Magazine stated that “The effectiveness of groups, teamwork, collaboration, and consensus is largely a myth.” Freedman goes on to cite research that claimed:
- Groups often breed a false confidence that leads to unsound decisions none of the individuals in the group would have made on their own.
- There is a tendency of people in groups simply to not try as hard as individuals.
- People in groups spend most of their time listening to others rather than thinking on their own.
In my mind, all of three of these points seem valid. I can think of several occasions when groups have served to undermine a project rather than enhance it. However, I still believe our LIBR559M group project went very well and that’s perhaps because, when you look at what we actually did, you’ll see that we largely avoided the pitfalls cited by Freedman.
The main reason we were able to do this was because each one of us trusted the other members of the group implicitly with the task they had been given. We were good at communicating but we didn’t daudle on decisions. As everyone had their own section, each member of the group had to think for themselves and there was no tendency to rely on others to get the work done. So in a fashion, we successfully collaborated by making appropriate decisions individually on when to not to collaborate.
So I have come to the conclusion that trust is the essential part of a well functioning team. Trust that everyone else in the group knows their role and has the ability to execute that role. Trust also that people working alone on part of a project will meet deadlines. And trust, ultimately, that everyone in the group are working toward the same goals.